Gilson’s gallimaufry

In today’s letters to the editor the Star Tribune publishes Gary Gilson’s apology for his sideswipe of John Hinderaker while swiping me head-on. Here is how it is published it today’s paper:

DEBATE OVER THE MOVIE ‘TRUTH’

I apologize for a statement made about the Power Line blog

In a Nov. 8 letter to the editor, I wrote that John Hinderaker, a founder of the conservative blog Power Line, had said in a radio interview that his organization did not check facts before posting items on its blog.

I cannot verify that he made that statement, and I should not have written what I wrote. I apologize to Mr. Hinderaker and to those who read my letter.

GARY GILSON, Minneapolis

The writer is former executive director of the Minnesota News Council.

Gilson drew on his misremembered quotation of John to assert by implication that I lack “respect for facts,” yet Gilson’s letter changed the subject and failed to contradict or rebut any of the facts set forth in my Star Tribune column. He disparaged my fidelity to the truth without demonstrating a single error. I want only to add that Gilson’s statement that he “should not have written what he wrote” applies to the entirety of his letter, not just to his sideswipe of John.